Lisa Nowak

At 61 years old, Lisa Nowak physical status not available right now. We will update Lisa Nowak's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

For her first assignment, Caputo chose a six-month secondment to the Johnson Space Center, where she worked as an aerospace engineer at its branch at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, Texas. During this time, there were six Space Shuttle launches. "What impressed me", she later said, "was the whole idea that everybody was so into what they were doing and excited that each of their parts was so important."

In December 1985, Caputo received orders to report to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida for flight training. By law, women were still banned from combat assignments, so half the jobs in the Navy were unavailable to women regardless of aptitude or ability, and there were doubts about the wisdom of training women for jobs they were not permitted to do. Getting accepted into flight training was a major achievement, and those women that did so were often resented by men who were passed over. Caputo completed primary flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola on the T-2 Buckeye, T-39 Sabreliner and TA-4J Skyhawk and qualified as a naval flight officer (NFO) in June 1987.

Caputo's NFO training continued at the Electronic Warfare School at Corry Station in preparation to fly electronic warfare aircraft. She then went to the Naval Air Station Lemoore, where she qualified to operate the electronic systems on the LTV EA-7L Corsair II. On April 6, 1988, she married an Annapolis classmate, Richard T. Nowak, at the Naval Academy Chapel with Catholic rites, and changed her last name to "Nowak". Her next assignment was to Electronic Warfare Aggressor Squadron 34 (VAQ-34) at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, where she flew on both the Corsair II and the Douglas ERA-3B Skywarrior, supporting the U.S. Pacific Fleet on reconnaissance mission exercises. She qualified as a mission commander and electronic warfare lead.

In 1990, Nowak entered the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where she earned both a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in September 1992, writing a thesis on Computational Investigations of a NACA 0012 Airfoil in Low Reynolds Number Flows. She gave birth to a son in February 1992. After graduate school, she transferred to the restricted line as an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer. She was selected to attend the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, after she applied six times. She graduated in June 1994, and then became an aircraft systems project officer at the Air Combat Environment Test and Evaluation Facility and at Strike Aircraft Test Squadron at Patuxent River. As a naval flying officer/flight test engineer, she participated in the development of the F/A-18 Hornet and EA-6B Prowler. Her next assignment was to the Naval Air Systems Command, where she was involved in the acquisition of new systems for naval aircraft. During her career in the Navy, Nowak logged over 1,500 hours of flight time in more than 30 different aircraft and was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal.

NASA career

On June 15, 1995, NASA announced that it was selecting a new group of astronauts. As a naval officer, Nowak could not apply directly, like a civilian could, but had to submit her application to a review board that would then approve it and forward it on to NASA, which it did. NASA received over 2,400 applications, and in early 1996, Nowak was informed that she was one of 150 finalists deemed highly qualified, and she was asked to report to Johnson Space Center for a week of orientation, interviews and medical evaluations.

On May 1, 1996, NASA publicly announced the names of 10 pilot and 25 mission specialist candidates; Nowak was one of the latter. The class of 1996, the 16th group of NASA astronauts, was the largest selected since the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts in 1978, which also numbered 35. They were ordered to report for duty at Johnson Space Center to commence their astronaut training on August 12, 1996. They were joined by nine international astronauts. Because there were so many of them, they were often packed into classrooms and training facilities, and called themselves "The Sardines".

Nowak and her family moved to Texas, where they built a house in Clear Lake City. Her husband, another naval flight officer, left active duty in 1998 but continued to fly in the United States Naval Reserve. He found a job as a space communications contractor with Barrios Technology, an aerospace company, and worked at the Johnson Space Center as a flight controller at the mission control center.

Astronaut training included survival training, a three-day trip to the Grand Canyon to study geology, and classwork on the Space Shuttle's many systems. As a mission specialist, she was expected to fly a minimum of four hours a month in NASA's Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft. Training was conducted in the waters of the Weightless Environment Training Facility and in the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker known as the Vomit Comet that flies a trajectory that gives the sensation of being in space. She completed her astronaut training in August 1998. On September 28, 1998, she returned to Annapolis along with fellow astronaut alumni Jim Lovell, Charles O. Hobaugh, David Leestma, John M. Lounge, Bryan D. O'Connor and Pierre J. Thuot, for a celebration of the life of Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard, who had died two months before.

In early 2001, Nowak became pregnant with twins. At the Astronaut Office, Nowak specialized in the operation of the Space Shuttle's robotic arm. She also served with the CAPCOM Branch, the astronauts that worked with the mission control center as the primary communicators with the spacecraft. She performed this duty during the STS-100 mission in April 2001, when the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour installed a robot arm in the International Space Station (ISS). In October 2001, she gave birth to twin daughters. Nowak and her husband alternated their work schedules so one of them was always with the children. This arrangement lasted until Richard was recalled to active duty in 2002 to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom, which effectively left Nowak a single mother with three young children.

On December 12, 2002, NASA announced the crew for STS-118, a mission scheduled for November 2003. Scott Kelly would be the mission commander, Hobaugh the pilot, and the mission specialists would be Nowak, Scott Parazynski, Dafydd Williams, and Barbara Morgan. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, killed seven astronauts on the STS-107 mission, including three from Nowak's 1996 astronaut class. It was NASA's practice to provide the families of astronauts who had died with a personal casualty assistance officer, and Nowak performed this duty for the family of her close friend Laurel Clark. Clark's widower, Jonathon Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon, recalled that:

The disaster resulted in a series of schedule and hardware changes. The task of testing all the changes was assigned to STS-114, the Return to Flight mission, but the list of changes that required testing grew so large that a second Return to Flight mission was added to the schedule to accommodate them. Despite the numbering, this mission, STS-121, would be the second mission flown after the Columbia disaster. STS-121 was primarily concerned with testing and developing new hardware and procedures to make Space Shuttle flights safer. It would also re-supply the ISS with equipment and consumables.

In January 2004, Nowak participated in an eleven-day cold weather survival training course in Canada with fellow NASA astronauts Dominic Antonelli and William Oefelein, Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang, Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev, and Canadian astronaut (and future Governor General) Julie Payette. The course commenced on January 19, and included four days of instruction with the Canadian Armed Forces. They were then dropped off in the wilderness in northern Quebec and had to make their way back on foot. They covered 20 kilometers (12 mi) in eleven days, completing the course on January 29. Nowak had worked together with Oefelein, who had been selected as an astronaut with the class of 1998, when they were both stationed at Patuxent River in 1995.

When Nowak and Oefelein returned to Houston they began an extramarital affair, which they attempted to conceal. As serving Navy officers, they could have been charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, which includes adultery, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Oefelein's wife filed for divorce in February 2005 after discovering emails between him and Nowak. Their divorce was finalized in May 2005. Oefelein moved into a small apartment, to which he gave Nowak a key. She left personal effects there, and she soon became a familiar sight to other residents of the complex.

NASA announced in December 2003 that STS-121 would be commanded by Steven Lindsey, with Mark Kelly as pilot and Michael Fossum and Carlos Noriega as mission specialists. On November 18, 2004, NASA announced that Nowak and her classmate Stephanie Wilson would join the STS-121 crew as additional mission specialists. They were assigned the task of manipulating the robotic arms of the Space Shuttle and the ISS. The STS-121 mission was originally scheduled for March or April 2005, but was soon postponed to July owing to difficulty implementing all the changes required. During the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery for STS-114 in July 2005, debris separated from the external tank, the very problem which had caused the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and STS-121 was further postponed until a solution to the problem could be found. In February 2006, the mission was rescheduled for a launch window between May 3 and 22, but in March multiple problems forced a further postponement until July.

A prelaunch reception was held for Nowak at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and she was joined by her parents, her husband Richard and three children, family members, and friends from school, Annapolis and the Navy. Among the personal effects she packed for the flight was a small owl figurine of the mascot of Luxmanor Elementary School, a koozie from Tilden Middle School, a banner from Charles W. Woodward High School, an Annapolis Class of 1985 flag, and her grandmother's engagement ring.

On July 1, 2006, the STS-121 crew ate the traditional prelaunch cake decorated with the mission's insignia and boarded Discovery at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B. Nowak was the last crew member to enter the spacecraft, taking her seat as the flight engineer on the flight deck immediately behind Lindsey and Kelly. At 15:42, the launch was scrubbed due to thunderstorm activity in the area. A second launch attempt the following day was also canceled due to inclement weather. STS-121 successfully launched on July 4 at 14:38. It was the first time a Space Shuttle launch had taken place on Independence Day.

After she entered orbit, Nowak felt nauseated, a symptom of space adaptation syndrome. The first day in space was devoted to inspecting the orbiter for possible damage, as the crew had noticed debris falling off the external tank during liftoff. Nowak deployed the robotic arm to inspect the wing tips, nose and underside of the spacecraft using digital and video cameras and laser scanning. After six and a half hours of examination, all that was found was a white splotch on the nose cap. NASA engineers were initially concerned that this might be the result of a high-velocity impact, but after closer examination they determined it to be bird droppings. Some discoloration found on the leading edges was attributed to hydraulic fluid spills.

After Discovery docked with the ISS, Wilson and Nowak used the robotic arm to unload the Italian-built Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The 3,400 kilograms (7,400 lb) of equipment and supplies it contained included the Minus Eighty Lab Freezer for use in scientific experiments and a 640-kilogram (1,400 lb) Oxygen Generation System to allow the ISS to support up to six crew members. Nowak carried out her assigned tasks, but other crew members noted a reluctance to assist with tasks that were not assigned to her and for which she had not trained.

While Discovery was docked with the ISS, the STS-121 crew conducted three spacewalks. The women were not considered for this activity; when NASA trimmed the space suit budget in the 1990s, small sizes were omitted. Women astronauts were assigned to other tasks like operating the robotic arms. From the Destiny laboratory on the ISS, Nowak operated the robotic arm whose installation she had overseen as CAPCOM years before. It was more challenging to operate than the one on the Space Shuttle, since it was larger and had an extra joint.

Some 2,000 kilograms (4,300 lb) of trash, experiment results and broken equipment were packed into Leonardo, and Nowak and Wilson used the robotic arm to re-stow the module in Discovery's cargo bay. It was then used to make a final check of the Space Shuttle to ensure that no damage had been done by micrometeorites or space debris. Discovery undocked from the ISS and commenced its two-day return to Earth. In all, she spent 12 days 18 hours and 36 minutes in space, during which she traveled 8 million kilometers (5 million miles). Discovery landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center at 09:14 on July 17.

As was usual, the six crew members of STS-121 embarked on a series of publicity events and interviews. They attended X Games XII at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles from August 3 to 6, and the Houston Astros game on August 14 at Minute Maid Park, where the crew met pitcher Roger Clemens and threw ceremonial first pitches. On September 9, Nowak attended a tailgate party at the Naval Academy versus University of Massachusetts football game, where she gave her classmates the Class of 1985 flag she had carried on the Space Shuttle and signed photographs of herself. At half time she presented Annapolis with a Navy jersey she had carried on board Discovery. She gave a long interview with the Ladies' Home Journal for its Mother's Day issue and presented awards at NASA's Stennis Space Center. She went back to Luxmanor Elementary School and Tilden Middle School where she spoke to the children and attended celebrations at Annapolis for the 30th anniversary of its admission of women, during which she gave a presentation as part of the Academy's Forrestal Lecture Series. In December, the STS-121 crew flew to the UK, where they visited the University of Edinburgh and the National Space Centre in Leicester, and spoke at the University of Leeds, fellow STS-121 crewmember Piers Sellers's alma mater.

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